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SaharaReporters, which monitored the demonstration via a live broadcast on NupekoTV, a Kwara-based media platform, observed staff members carrying placards and chanting solidarity songs at the entrance of the college.
Staff of the College of Education (Technical), Lafiagi, in the Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State, staged a protest on Wednesday over the deteriorating state of the institution, blaming the neglect on the absence of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) intervention since 2019.
SaharaReporters, which monitored the demonstration via a live broadcast on NupekoTV, a Kwara-based media platform, observed staff members carrying placards and chanting solidarity songs at the entrance of the college.
One of the protesters said, “There is a clear regression to this college. There has been no progress for years.
“Just that we, the staff, are getting our salaries from the government as at when due, we thank the government for that. But now, on the issue of insufficient facilities, you could see that most of our buildings are TETFUND projects, and for the past six years, nothing new has been done to get more facilities or maintain the existing ones. We can’t do anything.”
“You can even see that despite growing insecurity in this area (Lafiagi), we are enduring it. We did not close down the school. So, we are using this medium to beg the government that if TETFUND intervention is not present in the school, this college may be closed down soon. We are begging them to bring TETFUND intervention back into the college,” the protester added.
One of the placards displayed by the protesters read: “Education First, Include Us In TETFUND Now.”
Another protesting staff member lamented the institution’s neglect by the Kwara State Government.
“We are here because of the progress of this college and the progress of this community. That was why we are here. We are suffering. COED Lafiagi is seriously bleeding,” the protester said.
“It seems the Kwara Governor and the Kwara Government are not aware of our challenges that, since 2019, we have been suffering, bleeding.
“That TETFUND intervention that is being enjoyed by other tertiary institutions in Nigeria, especially in Kwara, the only college in Kwara State that is not enjoying this intervention is the College of Education Technical, Lafiagi.”
He further accused the government of deliberately sidelining the institution.
“Go to anywhere in the state, be it Ilorin, Oro, see the tertiary institutions there, be it university, polytechnic, you will see that 99% of buildings there were built by TETFUND,” he said.
“And in this college, we don’t enjoy this TETFUND intervention again since six years and there was nothing again given to us to take care of the problem of inadequate facilities.”
The protest once again exposes the neglect of educational institutions in rural parts of Kwara, even as the state government boasts of progress in the sector.
Source: SaharaReporters.com | Read Full Story…
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